oh DAYUM!!! Bush almost got clocked by a SHOE
 

BAGHDAD – On a whirlwind trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the wars that define his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference in Iraq.

"This is your farewell kiss, you dog!" shouted the protester in Arabic, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/bush

video:http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/N...Y&pageId=3.1.1

Was this guy like the Iraqi equivalent of Code Pink?

"You missed me beyotch!" as he caught the shoes and threw them back...

Puts a whole new spin to lame DUCK president... LOL...

Why was he in Iraq again?

He was over there doing what he does best. Being dumb and lyin'

.....lyin' azz.

I don't care what comes out of that man's mouth... His detail must not like him that much--or maybe it's a set up for Americans to go crazier... But the biggest threat were size 10 shoes... LOL...

Makes me wonder what ~$1 trillion was for?

LMAO

I hope they were a pair of funky azz shoes too. I hope that dumb azz joker got a good wiff of them as they passed by him.

Nah... President Bush ducked... He got skillz... Numb chuck skillz, rappin' skillz... Bush is hardcore...

Hmm, guess they found the WMD.
:D:D:D

I wear a 14 and they would not have missed and I woulda wore Tims....

He was surprisingly nimble in his ducking.

I find it repugnant that anyone would support such blatant disrespect of our president. It wasn't funny.

I thought this was pretty ridiculous - not sure we should be encouraging people to throw things at the President because of a disagreement with his policies. Do we want people throwing stuff at President Obama if they disagree with his foreign or domestic policy?

I understand disagreeing with Bush, but approving of this kind of behavior seems a bit extreme.

I absolutely do not approve of that behavior, any world leader deserves respect, even if you don't like the person or their policies.

But, he was remarkably agile in his ducking. I don't think I could have gotten out of the way twice! I would totally have wrenched my back and he's older than me.

Yeah, he's in better shape than I would have thought.

Still though, throwing a shoe at someone is going a bit far.

Obviously someone disagrees with you.

You know, there is a Matrix Parody coming out of this!!!!

I actually agree here. In another thread a while back, I indicated that I was very liberal in what I consider humorous. In that thread, I said I didn't mind other countries writing political satire and drawing political cartoons that call our leadership out for the things they're doing poorly.

However, in this case, the president was personally assaulted. That's not just disrespectful.

What if one of the shoes had hit him just right and actually killed him? Would it be funny then?

No, they don't.

Sorry.... we are the same country responsible for lynching Saddam Hussein who we still haven't had conclusive proof of WMDs or the WTC and used a lame ass excuse to invade Iraq.

If Bush got killed by a shoe.....I wouldn't have shed a tear.

Better yet, put that question to the displaced from Katrina.

Ask some of the families of soldiers lost over there for no good reason...

A shoe would have been fitting.

What?

Dude, you don't throw a shoe at the goddamn President of the United States, period, ever, no matter who he is.

I don't even know where to start with this. It's interesting to me how many extremist positions we have on this site (and yes, saying that an attempted assault on the President is acceptable is extremist). I understand dissent, I understand being upset with the Bush presidency (I'm not happy with it), I understand frustration. I don't understand where condoning assault on anyone, let alone a public official, makes any sense.

In reality, it was congress that authorized the police actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The President supported these decisions as did many people in the country. We'd need a lot more shoes to deal with the people who really caused the "war." Is that what you're suggesting?

Hey,

I personally wouldn't because it would be waste of a good reasonably broken in shoe...

But, if the shoe fits.

Hey, guys remember, same way like you just don't arbitrarily SHOOT the President, but it has been done and we all know there are consequences and repercussions of our actions, so folks just because you don't like the idea that some of us aren't pressed that someone threw a shoe at Bush, spare the self righteousness, please.

Most of us have common sense enough to know to not do it, shoot he made it this long and no American has thrown ANYTHING at him is a testament to that!

Bush in a cosmic sense may have deserved it and the journalist had his reasons but that doesn't mean you do it.


What's the old Chris Rock quote?

"There's a reason to push an old man down a flight of stairs...you just don't do it."

Does anyone else see a Saturday Night Live skit coming out of this?

You are so ridiculous.

Please do the same.

I think that skit would be the end of me.

UH UH...some of you here are acting like "Oh it's the MOST HORRIBLE THING....Our Poor President had SHOES thrown at him !"

Boo F**king HOO

Oh PLEASE.....puuuuhhh - leeeease....spare me.


You reap what you sow.


Shoes are the least of his problems.

Better shoes than slugs!

Secret Service should have shot the guy. Screw everyone who thinks that its cool for an Egyptian to assault the President.
And for those of you who said you wouldn't be upset if he died... you're retarded. It blows my mind that anyone could think its OK to say that about another person besides maybe Hitler or Osama.

"Well put"

Heh.

I agree completely. People who think this is funny are, IMO, way out of line.

Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq
 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush has become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.

The little-known Shi'ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by gunmen in 2007.

TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a "barbaric act." He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister's media adviser, Yasin Majeed.

His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad's Sadr City, in the southern Shi'ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy.

"Thanks be to God, Muntazer's act fills Iraqi hearts with pride," his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television.

"I'm sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush."

Zaidi shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush's head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.

Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.

'BARBARIC'

The government said Zaidi had carried out "a barbaric and ignominious act" that was not fitting of the media's role and demanded an apology from his television station.

Al-Baghdadiya television played endless patriotic music, with Zaidi's face plastered across the screen.

A newscaster solemnly read out a statement calling for his release, "in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by U.S. authorities."

It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the "dictatorial era."

The Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate said Zaidi's "far from professional" and irresponsible conduct had placed it in an "embarrassing and critical" situation. Nevertheless, it called on Maliki to release him for humanitarian reasons.

"It was the throw of the century. I believe Bush deserves what happened to him because he has not kept his promises to Iraqis," said Baghdad resident Abu Hussein, 48.

Parliamentary reaction was mixed, with some saying Zaidi chose the wrong venue for his protest. Others cheered.

"Al-Zaidi's shoe is the most famous shoe in the whole world," said Fawzi Akram, a Turkman lawmaker loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

A Libyan charity group chaired by leader Muammar Gaddafi's daughter, Aicha Gaddafi, gave Zaidi an award for bravery.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081215/...raq_bush_shoes

Some of you who are pissy about the situation also need to consider the bigger picture, this is what little respect we hold in this region of the world (among other places) right now, like it or not. It's going to take a whole lot of work for the next administrations beyond this one to win any of it back.

Saddam Hussein DID THIS TO HIS OWN PEOPLE:
http://www.kdp.se/old/chemical.html
He massacred thousands of them because they were of a certain race (Kurdish) and you don't think that he deserved to be executed? Better yet you put him on the same level as George Bush? ARE YOU SERIOUS? Is that not enough proof for someone as ignorant as yourself? Do you need to see Saddam Hussein personally spraying serin gas into the face of a Kurd to believe it?

As for Katrina: It is NOT the government's responsibility to give people new homes. It sucks for those people but thats the way the world works, its not the government's fault that their home got destroyed and therefore its not their responsibility, those people should be grateful for all of the help that they did receive instead of bitching about not having everything given to them.

As for the families: A lot of those families don't think that their kids died for no good reason and probably wouldn't appreciate people like you saying that. A lot of progress is being made and a lot of people's lives have been changed for the better.

I believe that if we spread education throughout the region, people will be able to come to a more realistic view of the US role in the world. We're not doing ourselves any good trying to win the hearts and souls of people with a second grade education and who think that Osama bin Laden is a holy figure.

Dude...you need to calm that shyte down there.

That whole argument that you made there, we can have that same argument on the death penalty in the US.

Find someone that you think is deserving of death and let me see you and you personally pull the trigger or push the button.

And if you read the artile that I just posted, there are those that have mixed reactions for what happened to Bush yesterday.

Besides, who the f**k are we to role into a country and try to 'force' them to have a better view of the US????

That is part of why we are where we are NOW.

Reminds me of an old statement, "The Sowrd in one hand and the Bible in the other."

And damn if they don't like what we are offering!

Come into my house pulling some shyte like that I would throw a shoe at you too!!

And yes, Bush has plenty of blood on his hands.

He and his administration have brought our country to an all time low internationally and having a shoe flung at him is just too dayum nutso to take a pass on.

You can agree or disagree on that one.

Whether you like it or not.

I. DO. NOT. FEEL. SORRY. FOR. BUSH.

Hate me for making the statement, you know I don't give a damn.

And you well best believe that there are more here as well as those not on here that have the same sentiment.

Some of you are mad just because a few of us are not ashamed to show our disregard at a joke of a President that we can't wait to see leave in just under 50 days.

PhiGam, if you don't like it, you can kiss my @ss.

You think I would have any problem pulling the trigger on Saddam Hussein? Thats laughable.
This isn't the crusades, we are trying to establish a MUSLIM DEMOCRACY as an example to the rest of the region.
You certainly don't have to "feel sorry" for Bush but to say that you wouldn't be saddened if he died is FUCKED UP, no matter how you twist it. You're not going to be very happy when you realize that Obama's Iraq policies are going to be identical to George Bush's (even though he said that he wanted to have all troops out by March 31, 2009- he later said that we probably wont have our troops out by 2013).

So are people just not allowed to disagree with you?

It's funny too - of the people who have disagreed with you, at least three (myself, preciousjeni and Sen) have stated in previous threads that we're not fans of the Bush presidency. So, that "some of you are made just because a few of us are not ashamed to show our disregard..." statement has little to no relevance to our feelings.

Bottom line: just like it works in your GLO, one respects the Office of the President or any similar office. Feel free to love, hate, or be indifferent to President Bush or any of the former Presidents or President-elect Obama, but respect the Ofiice of the American Presidency.

If our Secret Service didn't take Shoe-Boy out, the Iraqi one should have. Assault against a head of state is a capital offense.